Products of the Nevyansk Plant: assortment and logistics (1703–1721)

The purpose of the article is to clarify the scale, assortment, and directions of supply of the Nevyansk Plant’s products in 1703–1721 on the basis of archival documents previously not introduced into scholarly circulation. The study is conducted within the framework of modernization theory, which makes it possible to consider the activity of the plant as part of the transformation of Russia’s economic, technological, and transport systems in the first quarter of the eighteenth century. Particular attention is paid to the ratio between military and civilian supplies, changes in the geography of distribution, and the role of the Chusovaya — Kama — Volga — Oka water route in the transportation of Ural metal. The study establishes that, already in the first decades of the eighteenth century, the Nevyansk Plant was not only a supplier of iron, artillery, and ammunition, but also a diversified production center. From 1703 to 1721, almost 16 000 tons of iron were shipped from the plant, along with significant volumes of civilian products. Initially, Moscow was the main destination of supplies; however, from the 1710s onward, the geography expanded to include St. Petersburg, Kazan, Tver, Yaroslavl, the Makaryev Fair, and other destinations. This indicates the inclusion of the Nevyansk Plant in Russia’s system of military supply and domestic market.